1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an air conditioner, more particularly, to the attaching structure of a wind directing plate to an air outlet of, for example, a ceiling-mounted air conditioner.
2. Description of the Related Art
A ceiling-mounted air conditioner is mainly used to be mounted on the ceiling in a wide space, such as in offices and shops, and structurally larger in size than, for example, a wall-mounted air conditioner.
An example of the conventional structure will be explained below with FIG. 10 to FIG. 12. The air conditioner has, as a whole, a flat box type housing 1 mounted on the ceiling face inside the room. Incidentally, in FIG. 10, the middle portion of the housing 1 is omitted owing to the circumstances of the drawing.
An air inlet 2 is formed on one end portion of the bottom surface of the housing 1. An air outlet 3 is formed on a corner portion, opposite from the air inlet 2, of the housing 1. The air inlet 2 and the air outlet 3 are connected to each other through an air channel in the housing 1. In the air channel, an air fan 4 and a heat exchanger 5 are placed. In the lower part of the heat exchanger 5, a drain pan 6 is placed.
The air outlet 3 has an opening which is formed diagonally downward from the ceiling to the room. The air outlet 3 is provided therein with a wind vertically directing plate (flap) 7 and a wind horizontally directing plate (louver) 8. The wind vertically directing plate 7 is capable of turning in the vertical direction about the horizontal rotation axis X. The wind horizontally directing plate 8 is capable of turning in the lateral direction about the rotation axis Y orthogonal to the horizontal rotation axis X of the wind vertically directing plate 7.
In the conventional example, the number of the wind vertically directing plates 7 is two. FIG. 10 shows only one wind horizontally directing plate 8, but in the actual air conditioner, plural wind horizontally directing plates 8 are provided at predetermined spaced-intervals in a direction at right angles to the drawing. When referring to all wind horizontally directing plates 8, the expression is a wind horizontally directing plate group.
The wind vertically directing plates 7 and the wind horizontally directing plates 8 are provided in the air outlet 3 by attaching on a base frame 9. As shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, the base frame 9 is composed of a plastic frame.sub.-- having a landscaped box shape, including an upper plate 9a, a lower plate 9b, and side plates 9c which are provided at both ends of the upper and lower plates 9a and 9b. The air outlet 3 is substantially formed with the base frame 9.
The ceiling-mounted air conditioner is larger in size as compared with the wall-mounted air conditioner, so that the air outlet 3 is also large, and naturally, larger wind directing plates 7 and 8 than that used in the wall-mounted type are provided in the air outlet 3. For the supporting strength of the wind horizontally directing plate 8, rotating shafts 8a and 8b are provided on the top side and the bottom side of the wind horizontally directing plate 8 to support the plate 8 at the two points of top and bottom.
More specifically, the base frame 9 is formed to be a rectangular box shape as described above. Bearing holes 10a and 10b are provided on the upper plate 9a and the lower plate 9b. The upper rotating shaft 8a and the lower rotating shaft 8b are inserted through bearing bushes 11a and 11b into the bearing holes 10a and 10b, respectively.
In this case, arms 12 are connected in a line to each of the bearing bushes 11a for the upper rotating shaft 8a as shown in FIG. 11. The arms 12 are coupled to each other through a coupling rod 13 which moves reciprocatingly by a motor 14 (see FIG. 10). Each of the wind horizontally directing plates 8 is driven in the right and left directions within predetermined angles by the motor 14.
The wind vertically directing plate 7 is attached to the base frame 9 by inserting the rotating shaft 7a into a bearing hole 15 which is provided on the side plate 9c of the base frame 9 so as to be vertically movable against the base frame 9. In this case, because of the wind vertically directing plate 7 being long, supporting plates 16 are provided at predetermined spaced-intervals between the upper plate 9a and the lower plate 9b of the base frame 9. The supporting plate 16 is provided with a hinge 16a which supports the middle portion of the rotating shaft 7a of the wind vertically directing plate 7.
The wind vertically directing plate 7 and the wind horizontally directing plate 8 are attached to the base frame 9 as described thus far, and then the assembled body is installed in the air outlet 3. These processes entail the following tasks.
That is, it is difficult to adhere a heat insulation material on the inside of the base frame 9 which is a rectangular box shape, and a number of bearing holes 10a and 10b are provided on the upper plate 9a and the lower plate 9b.
The moisture condensation may occur in the base frame 9, and may grow to drop from the air outlet 3. This problem is resolved by adhering the heat insulation material on the inside of the base frame 9. The adhering process, however, needs a lot of time and efforts; resulting in inferior productivity and high cost.
The base frame 9 is a resin molding and has a structure of a rectangular box shape, which requires plural molds, so that the cost is increased. In addition, in order to attach the base frame 9 into the air outlet 3 with a good outside appearance, careful and elaborate finishing is required, and this also causes the increase of the cost.
The wind horizontally directing plate 8 is supported at top and bottom points with a shaft, so that the lower bearing bush 11b is required, which is unnecessary in case of a cantilever support. The lower bearing bush 11b is small in size and many bushes 11b are required, so that the assembling process needs further efforts.
Moreover, the supporting plate 16 is provided in the base frame 9 for supporting the middle portion of the wind vertically directing plate 7, so that the cost for the attaching process and the parts is required. In addition, the presence of the supporting plate 16 could cause a wind noise and could be detrimental to the design of the air outlet 3.